10 Things to Know for Wednesday, March 6, 2013Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. THE POST-CHAVEZ ERA Vice President Nicolas Maduro became Venezuela's interim president and will run as the governing party candidate in elections in a month. 2. DOW'S RECORD HIGH DOESN'T IMPRESS WALL STREET Memories of the financial meltdown are too fresh and the economy is too uncertain to celebrate after Tuesday's closing at 14,253.77. ...

Snow storm barrels through Midwest to Mid-Atlantic CHICAGO (AP) — A late winter storm packing up to 10 inches of snow sent officials in weather-hardened Chicago into action Tuesday to prevent a repeat of scenes from two years ago, when hundreds of people in cars and buses were stranded on the city’s marquee thoroughfare during a massive blizzard. The storm was part of a system that started in Montana, hit the Dakotas and Minnesota on Monday and then barreled through Wisconsin and Illinois on i...

US home prices rose by most in nearly 7 years WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home prices jumped in January, a sign the housing market is gaining momentum as it nears the spring selling season. Home prices rose 9.7 percent in January from a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by CoreLogic. That’s up from an 8.3 percent increase in December and the biggest annual gain since April 2006. Prices rose in all states except Delaware and Illinois. And prices increased in 92 of the 100 largest met...

Chavez death: Venezuelans in US hopeful of change DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Cheering Venezuelans in the U.S. waved their country’s flag and voiced hope that change would come to their homeland after the death Tuesday of long-ruling populist President Hugo Chavez. “He’s gone!” dozens in a largely anti-Chavez community chanted after word spread swiftly of the death of the 58-year-old leftist. Many said they were rejoicing after nearly a decade and a half of socialist rule, heavily concentrated in Chav...

Suspect in deadly NYC crash ready to surrender NEW YORK (AP) — The suspected driver who fled the scene of a grisly crash that killed a pregnant woman, her husband and ultimately the child they were expecting said Tuesday that he planned to surrender, though police continued searching for him and said they would arrest him if they found him. Julio Acevedo, 44, told the Daily News of New York that he was speeding away from a gunman who was trying to shoot at him early Sunday when the acciden...

Military leaders welcome House GOP budget bill WASHINGTON (AP) — A massive House Republican measure to keep the government operating would ease some of the pain of automatic spending cuts slamming the Defense Department, the nation’s senior military leaders told Congress on Tuesday. Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff painted a dire picture of construction projects on hold, limits on aircraft carriers patrolling the waters and even a delay in the expansion of Arlington National Cemetery d...

Martha Stewart denies wrongdoing in Penney deal NEW YORK (AP) — Home decor and food guru Martha Stewart testified in court on Tuesday that she did nothing wrong when she signed an agreement to open shops within most of J.C. Penney’s stores across the country. Stewart testified in New York State Supreme Court in a trial over whether the company she founded breached its contract to sell cookware, bedding and other items exclusively at Macy’s when she inked the deal with Penney. Stewart’s appe...

Taliban attack trends: Never mind WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan will no longer count and publish the number of Taliban attacks, a statistical measure that it once touted as a gauge of U.S. and allied success but now dismisses as flawed. The move comes one week after the coalition, known as the International Security Assistance Force, acknowledged in response to inquiries by The Associated Press that it had incorrectly reported a 7 percent drop ...

Racial episodes shake Ohio’s Oberlin College OBERLIN, Ohio (AP) — Scrawls of racially offensive graffiti and, more recently, a report of someone wearing what looked like a Ku Klux Klan-type hooded robe on campus have shaken students at historically liberal Oberlin College, one of the nation’s first universities to admit blacks. Two students are being investigated for possible involvement in the graffiti and are facing discipline by the college, but no criminal charges have been filed, sa...

’Sinkhole season’ has only just begun in Florida SEFFNER, Fla. (AP) — As crews entombed a man who was swallowed by a sinkhole near Tampa, the earth opened up again just a few miles away. On Tuesday, in a neighboring county, officials investigated reports of a home cracking, perhaps due to another sinkhole. Across Florida this time of year, it’s the start of what’s unofficially considered the “sinkhole season,” State Geologist Jonathan Arthur said. It coincides with the beginning of the state...

Jeb Bush: No citizenship path for illegal immigrants WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush writes in a new book that the nation needs to completely overhaul its immigration policies but cautions against providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a position that puts him at odds with some Senate reformers within his own party. In “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution,” Bush writes that the immigration debate holds serious consequences for the nation and members ...

California woman dies after nurse refuses to do CPR BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A nurse’s refusal to give CPR to a dying 87-year-old woman at a California independent living home despite desperate pleas from a 911 dispatcher has prompted outrage and spawned a criminal investigation. The harrowing 7-minute, 16-second call also raised concerns that policies at senior living facilities could prevent staff from intervening in medical emergencies. It prompted calls for legislation Monday to prevent a...

TSA to allow small knives, bats, clubs on planes WASHINGTON (AP) — Airline passengers will be able to carry small knives, souvenir baseball bats, golf clubs and other sports equipment onto planes beginning next month under a policy change announced Tuesday by the head of the Transportation Security Administration. The new policy conforms U.S. security standards to international standards, and allows TSA to concentrate its energies on more serious safety threats, the agency said in a statemen...

Hugo Chavez, fiery Venezuelan leader, dies at 58 CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez was a former paratroop commander and self-styled “subversive” who waged continual battle for his socialist ideals. He bedeviled the United States and outsmarted his rivals time and again, while using Venezuela’s vast oil wealth to his political advantage. Chavez led one coup attempt, defeated another and was re-elected three times. Almost the only adversary it seemed he couldn’t beat was cancer. ...

Masschusetts man, 106 years old, gets high school diploma BEVERLY, Mass. (AP) — Fred Butler was married for 65 years, raised five children, served in the Army during World War II and worked for years for the local water department, but the fact he never earned a high school diploma always bothered him. Not anymore. The 106-year-old was awarded his honorary diploma Monday during an emotional ceremony attended by school officials, state lawmakers and Beverly Mayor Bill Scanlon. “I thank everybody who i...

Comet making closest approach ever of EarthCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A recently discovered comet is closer than it's ever been to Earth, and stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere finally get to see it. Called Pan-STARRS, the comet is passing within 100 million miles of Earth on Tuesday, its closest approach. This ice ball will get even nearer the sun this weekend — just 28 million miles from the sun. That's within the orbit of Mercury. The comet has been visible for weeks from the So...

Dow average blows past its 2007 record highNEW YORK (AP) - The Dow Jones industrial average is trading at an all-time high. The index surged past its previous record set in October 2007, gaining 145 points to stand at 14,273 at midday Tuesday. That's a gain of 1 percent. The index is now up nearly 9 percent for the year, capping a remarkable comeback since the depths of the financial crisis. The Dow has doubled since bottoming out at a 12-year low in March 2009. Tuesday's gains were dr...

10 Things to Know for Tuesday, March 5, 2013Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. CHAVEZ HEALTH WORSENS, SUFFERS 'SEVERE INFECTION' Venezuela's communications minister says the 58-year-old president is in a "very delicate" state and having trouble breathing. 2. SANCTIONS FOR NORTH KOREA The U.S. and China agreed on a resolution to punish the nation for its latest nuclear test. 3. GOP ERECTS A BUDGET FIREWALL House Repu...

ConAgra, CHS, Cargill to form flour milling co.OMAHA, Neb. — ConAgra Foods is combining its North American flour milling business with that of a joint venture of Cargill and CHS Inc. to create a new business that will be called Ardent Mills. The three companies say the deal announced Tuesday will create a business that will have a broader view of the marketplace and be able to serve their customers better. Ardent Mills will draw on support from 44 flour mills, three bakery mix facilities a...

Obama nominates Wal-Mart's Burwell as budget chief WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Wal-Mart's Sylvia Mathews Burwell as his next budget chief, thrusting her into the center of Washington's heated partisan budget battles. Obama announced Burwell's selection to lead the Office of Management and Budget during a White House ceremony, noting that her appointment comes as government-wide spending cuts are going into effect that he said mean "eventually a lot of people ar...